RISING UP

10.24.11

Woman Takes On Egyptian ‘Virginity Test’

AFP PHOTO

Samira Ibrahim, a 25-year-old former general manager of a marketing firm, is taking on the Egyptian military, vowing retribution for being administered a “virginity test.” Ibrahim was arrested in March in Cairo's Tahrir Square during the Arab Spring protests that toppled President Hosni Mubarak. She said she and 16 other women were forced to undergo a procedure in which they were forcefully penetrated in order to document blood from the hymen as proof of virginity. The practice has been condemned by Amnesty International as a form of torture. “I was forced to take off my clothes in front of military officials,” Ibrahim said. “The person that conducted the test was an officer, not a doctor. He had his hand stuck in me for about five minutes. He made me lose my virginity.” She lost her job after the arrest, and has filed a lawsuit against the military for sexual assault.